Analogy based workflow identification

Abstract

A method of creating an analogous workflow is provided. A first workflow is received at a first device, the first workflow including a plurality of first modules that are connected. A second workflow is received at the first device, the second workflow including a plurality of second modules that are connected. A third workflow is received at the first device, the third workflow including a plurality of third modules that are connected. An analogy workflow is determined based on a difference between the received first workflow and the received second workflow. The determined analogy workflow is applied to the received third workflow to define a fourth workflow. A method of identifying a workflow of a plurality of workflows is provided. A query workflow includes a plurality of modules that are connected. A workflow is identified that at least partially matches the received query workflow.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of creating an analogous workflow, the method comprising:
 receiving a first indicator of a first workflow by a first computing device, wherein the first workflow comprises a first plurality of modules, wherein the first plurality of modules are connected to define a first plurality of connected modules; 
 receiving a second indicator of a second workflow by the first computing device, wherein the second workflow comprises a second plurality of modules, wherein the second plurality of modules are connected to define a second plurality of connected modules; 
 receiving a third indicator of a third workflow by the first computing device, wherein the third workflow comprises a third plurality of modules, wherein the third plurality of modules are connected to define a third plurality of connected modules; 
 determining an analogy workflow by the first computing device based on a difference between the first workflow and the second workflow; 
 applying the determined analogy workflow to the third workflow by the first computing device to define a fourth workflow; and 
 presenting the defined fourth workflow to a user by the first computing device. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the difference between the first workflow and the second workflow comprises an action wherein the action is selected from the group consisting of a parameter modification, a module addition, a module deletion, and a connection modification. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 executing the fourth workflow by the first computing device to form a result; and 
 presenting the result to the user by the first computing device. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, by the first computing device, a mapping workflow between the first workflow and the third workflow; 
 wherein determining the analogy workflow comprises determining a difference mapping between the determined mapping workflow and the second workflow. 
 
     
     
       5. A system comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor, the computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to 
 receive a first indicator of a first workflow, wherein the first workflow comprises a first plurality of modules, wherein the first plurality of modules are connected to define a first plurality of connected modules; 
 receive a second indicator of a second workflow, wherein the second workflow comprises a second plurality of modules, wherein the second plurality of modules are connected to define a second plurality of connected modules; 
 receive a third indicator of a third workflow, wherein the third workflow comprises a third plurality of modules, wherein the third plurality of modules are connected to define a third plurality of connected modules; 
 determine an analogy workflow based on a difference between the first workflow and the second workflow; 
 apply the determined analogy workflow to the third workflow to define a fourth workflow; and 
 present the defined fourth workflow to a user. 
 
     
     
       6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to:
 receive a first indicator of a first workflow, wherein the first workflow comprises a first plurality of modules, wherein the first plurality of modules are connected to define a first plurality of connected modules; 
 receive a second indicator of a second workflow, wherein the second workflow comprises a second plurality of modules, wherein the second plurality of modules are connected to define a second plurality of connected modules; 
 receive a third indicator of a third workflow, wherein the third workflow comprises a third plurality of modules, wherein the third plurality of modules are connected to define a third plurality of connected modules; 
 determine an analogy workflow based on a difference between the first workflow and the second workflow; 
 apply the determined analogy workflow to the third workflow to define a fourth workflow; and 
 present the defined fourth workflow to a user. 
 
     
     
       7. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein a first module of the first plurality of modules comprises a computer-executable instruction. 
     
     
       8. The computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein a second module of the first plurality of modules comprises a second computer-executable instruction, and further wherein the first module and the second module are connected by an output port of the first module and an input port of the second module which indicate a data parameter used by the first module and the second module. 
     
     
       9. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the difference is determined by comparing the second plurality of connected modules to the first plurality of connected modules. 
     
     
       10. The computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the difference between the first workflow and the second workflow comprises an action wherein the action is selected from the group consisting of a parameter modification to a value of a parameter of the first plurality of connected modules, a module addition to the first plurality of connected modules, a module deletion from the first plurality of connected modules, and a connection modification between two modules of the first plurality of connected modules. 
     
     
       11. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing device to present a user interface window to the user, to receive an analogy workflow name defined by the user using the presented user interface window, and to store the determined analogy workflow in association with the received analogy workflow name. 
     
     
       12. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the stored analogy workflow is applied to the third workflow to define a fourth workflow after receipt of selection by the user of a third workflow indicator associated with the third workflow and of selection by the user of the analogy workflow name presented in a second user interface window. 
     
     
       13. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing device to:
 execute the first workflow to form a first result; 
 execute the second workflow to form a second result; 
 execute the third workflow to form a third result; and 
 present the first result, the second result, and the third result to the user in a user interface window. 
 
     
     
       14. The computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the analogy workflow is determined after receipt of a fourth indicator indicating selection by the user of the first result and the second result in the user interface window. 
     
     
       15. The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the determined analogy workflow is applied after receipt of a fifth indicator indicating selection by the user of the third result in the user interface window. 
     
     
       16. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing device to:
 determine a mapping workflow between the received first workflow and the received third workflow by identifying matching modules between the received first workflow and the received third workflow; 
 determine a mapped difference by applying the determined mapping workflow to the difference between the received first workflow and the received second workflow; 
 wherein the analogy workflow is the determined mapped difference. 
 
     
     
       17. The computer-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing device to:
 receive a query workflow; 
 identify the first workflow from a plurality of workflows, the first workflow at least partially matching the received query workflow based on a first similarity score calculated between the query workflow and the first workflow; 
 identify the third workflow from the plurality of workflows, the third workflow at least partially matching the received query workflow based on a second similarity score calculated between the query workflow and the third workflow; and 
 define the second workflow based on a user modification to the first workflow. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the query workflow comprises a module. 
     
     
       19. The computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the query workflow comprises a fourth plurality of connected modules. 
     
     
       20. The computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing device to calculate the first similarity score by:
 converting the query workflow to a first graph representation, wherein the first graph representation comprises a first module represented as a vertex and a first connection represented as an edge; 
 converting the first workflow to a second graph representation, wherein the first plurality of modules are represented as vertexes in the second graph representation and the connections between the first plurality of connected modules are represented as edges in the second graph representation; 
 creating a graph representation that combines the first graph representation and the second graph representation by defining a vertex for each pair of vertices of the first graph representation and the second graph representation and by defining an edge v i,j ˜v k,l  when v i ˜v k  in the first graph representation and v j ˜v l  in the second graph representation exists; and 
 determining a normalized vector, wherein the normalized vector includes a score for paired vertices of the created graph representation.